Icom M802 Marine SSB Radio

The Icom M802 Marine SSB Radio.

When communications are important.

When out on the water, communications can make the difference between life and death.

When out on the water your communications equipment can mean the difference between life and death. Having communications to talk to marine emergency services are important to your survival. With the Icom M802 HF marine radio communications have never been easier.

Although the Icom IC-M802 is limited from an Amateur radio perspective, for a marine radio it does everything you need and it has a power output of 150 watts. That is 50W more than a standard ham radio in the same price range. The Icom M802 also does RTTY (Radio TeleType) and Airmail so that you can keep in touch with your loved ones and receive important messages while out on the water

M802 Digital Marine SSB Radio All new digital SSB with remoteable control head offers the clearest reception ever .Big dials, a large dot-matrix LCD and well spaced buttons make Icom’s newest SSB a snap to operate, even in rough seas.

A full key pad, over 1300 channels, wide band RX, Ham band TX (license required) and RX included.

one-touch e-mail access (a SSB first!) with no optional filters required, front panel headset jack (to keep from waking up the crew), and many more thoughtful features make this remoteable control head SSB Icom’s most advanced ever.

Easy to install Same faceplate proportions as many other marine electronics devices Only about 4 inches deep, the remote controller fits in nearly any nav station.

The cabinet is designed to self flush-mount, hiding the hole cut for the remote controller. Hide the compact main unit Mounting bracket for the remote controller and the speaker is included, in case you choose not to flush mount the radio.

Mounting bracket for the main unit is also included. With its small footprint (less than a foot square), you can mount the main unit in more out of the way places, like under the navigator’s seat

Separate external speaker (required and included) allows you to place the sound where it’s needed most.

150 watts of power, 100% duty cycleAll modes, including RTTY

100% E-mail ready, with one touch button access on the front pan.Customer reviews

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This is a rather limited radio from a Ham perspective as it is intended to be a SSB and FSK radio. It also will not accept Ham desktop microphones which use a difference impedance.

Pros:
1. One touch email–program your best shore station frequency for fast and easy email.
2. One touch distress–and you can select the type of emergency–if you have time–fire, sinking, pirates, etc.
3. 160 user programmable memories, 160 email memories. Plus an insane number of ITU pre-programmed frequencies.
4. Hooks up to a GPS to display Latitude and Longitude–I use this often will updating my logs.
5. Digital Selective Calling–makes calling a specific vessel easy.
6. Matching VHF links up to MA-500TR Class B AIS Transponder.
7. Remote speaker can be placed in a convenient location.
8. Optional handset speaker/mic–a nice option.
9. Separate head and radio enclosure. Head unit is the same size as matching M604A VHF radio–which give position as well as course and speed–useful for the log book also.
10. 150 Watts of power. The extra 50 watts is very nice to have, but it will draw some current. Up to 30 Amps.
11. At-140 Antenna tuner works well in most instances but will not tune everything.
12. Simple controls that most people can use.
13. Works well with PACTOR modems for email.
14. Shields heavy gauge power leads.
15. Computer control–I have not tried this, but I will look into it. It can be done I’m told. It would be great to be able to use Ham Radio Deluxe software on this rig. Not sure if this is possible.
16. Decent memory structure–far better than the M700 which made me want to toss it overboard. Banks of memory that make it easy to customize and find stored frequencies.

Cons:
1. Does not work on 6 meter band
2. Receives Am but no transmit on that mode.
3. Does not transmit on FM mode–might be a good thing as that would be a battery killer in a sailboat. Still it would be nice to use it on 6m and 10m FM during band openings. This would allow outstanding audio and incredible distances.
4. No Tones so no repeater operation as well. This means Hams will want another radio on board.
4. Cannot use conventional HAM desktop microphones as these are a different impedance, and connector.
5. No digital filters commonly found on ICOM Ham rigs.
6. Did I mention cheesy hand mic?

So be sure to pop over to Amazon and take a look at the excellent Icom IC-M802 today.

Theron

I have a strong passion for all things radio. When I am not writing about different types of radio gear, I am out in the shack working the world on the HF bands, or troubleshooting an older shortwave radio.